


Prince Mononoke: an Erasermight Tale

by saltypepperspite



Category: Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Princess Mononoke Fusion, Alternate Universe - Spirits, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Depressed Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Depression, Divorced Todoroki Enji | Endeavor/Todoroki Rei, Fantasy, Feudalism, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Humor, Insecure Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Inspired by Princess Mononoke, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, M/M, Princes & Princesses, Sex, Sick Character, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tsundere Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Wolf Instincts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:15:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltypepperspite/pseuds/saltypepperspite
Summary: Princess Mononoke, but make it Erasermight:Yagi Toshinori is an old noble prince of his village, and as noble princes usually do in their retirement -- is mauled by a cursed boar. Royally pissed, because besides a battle-torn body fucked-up from years of protecting the land, now he's got a lethal curse too? He simply wants to perish, but his villagers won't let him; exiling his depressed ass til he finds himself a cure.And then this enchantingly beautiful wolf-prince threatens him at knife-point -- and Yagi begins to wonder if life might be worth living after all.---Fic commission for @Wintersblight xoxo
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Shimura Nana & Yagi Toshinori | All Might
Comments: 22
Kudos: 69





	1. you're beautiful

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wintersblight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersblight/gifts).



> this is a finished work, i'll prob post a chapter every week Thurs?? eheh
> 
> also happy erasermight day!!!

"I'll cut your throat! That'll shut you up!"

"You're beautiful," Yagi says.

The wolf-man's dark eyes blow wide open, and all Yagi can think of is how prettily his lashes sweep and flutter. The steady blade, abruptly forgotten, quivers and sinks a tiny notch deeper into the apple of Yagi's throat. Perhaps it's a testament to his absurdly unhealthy apathy, but Yagi doesn't swallow or squirm against the growing seam of blood; in fact, it's a crooked smile that spreads wryly across his worn face.

"Well," Apple bobbing bloodily against the blade, "weren't you about to cut my throat?"

The man stares at him. The knife is steady again, held just above the skin.

"You sound like you want me to."

"You're an absolute vision." It's funny, it's the most truthful Yagi's been in years. "I can imagine worse sights to die to."

Even as he pins Yagi's wrist down with his knee, all but straddling him -- the wolf-man is blushing. Blushing hard.

" _You_ \-- " The man gives his head a furious little shake, then admirably regains his composure. "You're goading me into killing you? Are all humans this depraved?"

"Are all wolf-men this beautiful?"

"Shut up! What's _wrong_ with you?!"

"Plenty." Yagi says, relishing the high of honesty. He's never felt freer to speak his mind than in the face of this strange, exquisite human holding a knife to his throat. Likely, his fatigue had something to do with the lightheadedness too -- but still. "But are you asking after the curse in my arm, or my lack of a lung, or the fact that my entrails were dragged out of me a good few years ago -- "

"You need some fucking help." The wolf-man looks as aghast as he is revolted.

"That's what Mirai said." Yagi's tongue feels thick. His head really is spinning. "I need ... _help_. I need _somebody_ to _talk_ to. Talk it all ... out. And then they talked me right out of my own village ... "

" _Shut up_." The glint and pressure of the knife draws away, and all's left is the heat of those lovely eyes on him. Nothing else to distract him. Oh, look at those pink, perfect lips moving, " -- taking you to our sacred pool."

"Whatever for?" Yagi mumbles, already drifting. His chest jumps as a coughing fit takes over, ragged, awful and exhausting. Blood and saliva must be smeared all over his mouth by now. Such a pretty picture he must make. "It'd better ... " he swallows thickly, and gags next on a giggle, "b-better not be to heal me."

"Be quiet!"

"Oh, yes. _Cer-tain-ly_. Anything ... for you."

\---

When Yagi wakes again, he's been eased up to his shoulders into cool water. When he twists his neck to see what's propping him up, he finds a soft, grassy bank, and a breathing lump of rugs and pelts close ashore, radiating warmth.

 _The wolf-man,_ Yagi realizes. _Did he bring me here?_

This is a sacred place, Yagi knows. He can tell by the taste of the air, sweet and pristine, and the thrumming, radiant tingle his soaked marrows have the honour of experiencing.

Best to let his lovely saviour rest, Yagi decides, settling back in the water, thinking to examine his surroundings. Questions can always be answered later.

It's daybreak, soft light spilling through the emerald foliage, the air clean and clear.

Admiringly, Yagi breathes it all in, chest lifting -- and when it doesn't hitch, ragged, like he's so used to -- he glances down in surprise. He's shirtless, but that isn't the concern; it's his scar, horrid, grisly crater carving out half his side that it is, it's always been familiar to him in its grotesqueness -- but now it seems ... different. More filled-out, less taut and waxy.

It isn't his imagination, is it?

He moves his arm through the water, and readies to drag a firm hand down over the sensitive scar, not holding back on how hard he'll press, dragging it hard over the raw fleshly crevasse that stretches from his half-ravaged chest over his boneyard of ribs, down to his shrunken hips.

He doesn't wince, not once.

Really, he's shocked.

"Does it hurt?"

The wolf-man's sitting up, pelts bunching around him, blinking sleepily, and valiantly, evidently attempting to hold back a yawn. It doesn't work; he gives a wide, open-mouthed yawn, which trails off into a little whimper at the end.

Gods. It's fucking adorable.

"Can't you talk?" the wolf-man groggily asks, tilting his head just so. If only there were wolfish ears attached to that shapely head.

Ah, Yagi's staring. So rude.

"Yes. Ah, yes, I can. A few languages, actually."

" _Human_ languages," the wolf-man scoffs. "I'll wager you couldn't say a word to trees."

"The trees have a language?"

"Everything that's alive can listen. If it can listen to you, you can listen to it."

"I see," Yagi says, though he's not entirely sure he does. "Why, may I ask, did you bring me here? This place -- though I suppose you must be the exception -- isn't meant for humans. Much less having one marinating in its blessed waters."

Of all things, the wolf-man looks approving of his apprehension.

"It's good that you can tell. But you might have been frightened if I'd told you that if the god of the forest hadn't accepted you, you would have been smote dead in these waters."

Yagi smiles, turning in the water to rest his arms on the bank. The wet grass tickles his nose.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Gazing down at him, the wolf-man purses his lips. Those pretty lips.

"Why are you so eager to die? Haven't," he frowns, "you got anything to live for? Anybody?"

That does give Yagi some pause. In the end, he still shakes his gold-tousled hair. "No. I suppose I used to live for my successor. But now that Izuku is grown and already a better man than I could ever be -- I haven't got anything left to offer him. Or my village. It might be better for all their sakes if I'd perished alone, far from home -- "

The wolf-man's given Yagi's head a sound smack.

"I didn't carry you all the way here, risk breaking the many rules of the forest, and infringe on sacred grounds all to have you _perish_."

"And _why_ did you do all that for me?"

Yagi feels a little grated. Not because of the smack, that barely hurt; but for the guilt of inconveniencing this stranger.

"I could ask you the same thing." The wolf-man looks just as irked. "Why did _you_ save me? I was about to kill that Rei woman."

"You were cornered by her people. You would have never left Irontown alive."

"And so you intervened at the risk of your life and carried me out? You picked a side. You picked me. Your own kind -- " The wolf-man slides off the bank and into the water. "They haven't been kind to you, either." He pushes a hand up against Yagi's bare side underwater, where ages ago a great wound had gaped and spilled. "Have they?"

Yagi breathes. Feels his ribs expand against a warm palm. "How would you know that a human was the cause of that?"

"It reeks of human cruelty."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call the creature who did this to me human." Yagi laughs softly, twice-broken, twice-healed ribs shifting under that calloused hand. "T'was more a demon in the shape of a man."

"Is there any difference?" The man peers up from under long, dark lashes. "All humans are demons."

"Really?" Yagi takes the wolf-man's hand in his own, pulls it gently from his throbbing scar. "All of us?"

The wolf-man yanks his hand away with such vigor, it makes quite the splash. He's extraordinarily red.

"What's your name?" Yagi smiles.

" _What?_ "

"My name is Yagi Toshinori."

"My ... mother named me Shouta."

"Thank you for saving me, Shouta."

Shouta bites his lip and nods. "Thank you for saving me ... Yagi."

\---

The water doesn't help the curse in Yagi's arm one bit.

He has his organs back, it seems, or at least his stomach; the meat and sweet leaves Shouta quietly offers going down strangely well without the usual bouts of dry-heaving and ribs-seizing that come after every unfamiliar meal.

That elation is short-lived, however. Yagi's phlegm still comes mingled with blood, so perhaps that's his first hint that not everything's perfectly aligned within. Coughs still wrack him thoroughly. Migraines still strike and haunt his cranium with a deathly grip. His lung, no, he has two lungs now, and Yagi supposes he should be grateful that breathing's so much easier -- until they burn, the both of them, raw, blazing and foreign in his taut chest, his throat tight and aching and occasionally swollen. Fevers, cold sweats, they come and go.

_I'm healed, but I'm still in such pain._

Days go by. Yagi's not sure how many do. But he is aware that all throughout, Shouta stays.

Shouta stays.

The dry, soothing hand on Yagi's damp, twisted brow is a constant he clings to, though he'd never say it aloud.

Gentle fingers that somehow plaid Yagi's wiry blond hair off to the side, off his awful, sweat-slicked skin. Dark eyes without pity. A rare, wry smile whenever Yagi has the strength to rasp out a quip.

For that smile, as ludicrously saccharine as it might sound, Yagi realizes that he can usually find the strength to.

Eventually, at some point, Yagi wakes to several of the great mountain's godlings snuffling at his bag and cloak by the pool, baring their teeth at him, snarling, and shoving their big wet noses into Shouta's hands.

Each beast is far larger than Yagi thought any wolf could ever be, and they speak intelligently, too, he quickly learns, through their throaty growls and sharp whines. Shouta's right. Theirs wasn't a human language, certainly, but it could be heard, and if Yagi listened intently enough, understood.

And it isn't as if Yagi has anything better to do lately than to listen at his leisure; listening and picking apart the husky consonants and low croons of their conversations as he soaks with his eyes closed against the grassy banks of the blessed waters.

_Why preserve him, Shouta? I smell a curse on him. Surely he is bound for the underworld._

_He saved my life, Nemuri. He seems ... he seems a good man._

_No man is good._

_Perhaps you're right. But for now, I wish to keep him alive. Unharmed. Understand?_

Yagi appreciates it, as much as he resents it.

The wolf-man wants him to stay alive. Is Yagi about to be shamed into staying alive? That's what Mirai did. That's what Sorahiko, all the elder council, even his dearest Izuku did.

_"Aren't you even going to fight it? Do you want the children to watch you suffer, and die?"_

He could never tell them the truth.

**I want to die.**

_"You fool! You vanquished All for One, and now you'll let some pathetic curse run you into the ground?"_

**Let me die.**

_"Please, Father! You can't give up, you've got to find a cure and return to us! Please! You have to fight -- to live!"_

**But I don't want to fight. Not anymore.**

Yagi wishes he didn't resent them. Because even after this long, even after everything that's happened, the curse in his arm doesn't leave. The pain doesn't leave.

But when Shouta absentmindedly combs his fingers through Yagi's damp hair, and curls into his chest without a word, come every nightfall ... Yagi wonders if Shouta's become one more person he'd dread to disappoint with his death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there will be 6x chapters in tots & a sexy scene,,, umm,, keep up with my twitter for fic updates i guess??!!
> 
> twitter: @saltypeppy
> 
> PS: YES!! I KNOW wanting to die isn't cured by sexual tension & pretty wolf princes,, so I think i did a pretty okay job of addressing Yagi's depression and cynicism more seriously through the whole fic -- cuz as cute as Shouta is, i didn't want it to be as though Yagi was magically cured by love ... but having others in your life CAN make one love life more, don't you think? :D


	2. meeting the in-laws

One dewy morning, Shouta passes his palms over Yagi's body, presses his fingers over Yagi's tongue, and, of all things, shoves his face into the warm crook of Yagi's neck, and inhales deeply.

"Come on," he exhales, standing suddenly, apparently satisfied. "You're well enough. Get up."

Yagi's surprised, but does as he's told.

Treading through the forest is no easy feat, with the ground rugged with enormous roots and mounds, all brambled over a terrain representative of only the best disarray of general nature.

"Where are we going?" Yagi pants, though he can guess well enough.

"My family wishes to meet you. Formally."

Ah, the wolves. Huge and fierce and if he recalls correctly, at least one had offered most earnestly to crunch his face off until Shouta had waved them away.

"When you see Mother," Shouta scrambles easily up and over a mossy ledge the height of Yagi's shoulder, "you will give her her due courtesies. Be respectful. Try to be likeable." He holds out a hand.

Grasping his forearm, Yagi grins. "Am I not likeable?"

Shouta snorts, and hauls Yagi up the rock. "I will forewarn you, though, that if they don't approve of you, they _will_ maul you to death."

"A terrible fate, I'm sure."

"I'm fucking serious." He plucks a twig out of Yagi's hair with a scowl.

"I'll do my best not to embarrass you."

In annoyed resignation, Shouta grunts, and rightfully so, as that's all Yagi can promise.

\---

Massive and majestic even amidst her pack, the mother wolf Nana is as outstanding and intimidating as any one can expect a legendary beast god to be. But Yagi hadn't been lying. He _really_ doesn't want to embarrass Shouta.

With not so much interest as disdain, Nana regards him steadily before she speaks. _What are your intentions here, human?_

Yagi clears his throat. _Honoured mountain god, I came to have my curse absolved._

There's silence, and then a ripple of incredulity and protest through the crowd of onlookers. Shouta's eyes burn into his side.

 _You speak our tongue._ Nana says. To her credit, she does not sound too terribly surprised. _Horribly -- but you do. Unfortunately,_ Yagi appreciates how she gets straight to the point. _If the Forest God did not heal your curse, there is nothing else that can be done._

"I see." Yagi falls back into Japanese. There's only so much of the wolves' language he can safely make coherent with his paltry human vocals. "I suspected as much. Nevertheless, I have gotten the gist from Prince Shouta, about the feud you have with the humans down in Irontown."

 _And what of it?_ Nana bares her gigantic teeth. _Will you offer to infiltrate the humans down below for our sakes, and kill their lady leader? Although you have saved my Shouta and likely caused them grievous offense, I have no doubt you could persuade them to open their gates to you once more._

"Great goddess," Yagi is as calm as ever, "I will not do so. But I do wish to help find peace between you and the people of Irontown."

 _This is our mountain,_ the young wolf called Katsuki snarls out, _what right do they have to demand peace from us? Are they afraid they'll lose, the cowards?_

"You'll both lose many dear ones to the war coming to your doorstep -- " Yagi says evenly, "Unless we defend this mountain together."

 _What war?_ Nana cuts in, before Katsuki can open his maw again.

"If my information is correct," Yagi obliges, "the Lady Rei below is being troubled by the Emperor himself. The rich resources of this mountain have come to his attention; and the Imperial Forces will surely advance upon this land before the season turns. We must act quickly to create enough of a deterrence so that he would not think to try us again at his leisure."

"And why should we help?" This time, it's Shouta himself. "Imperial or Irontown, they both seek to master us and ravage our mountain."

"The Emperor will listen to no one, take nobody but his most trusted's counsel, least of all the objections of an elderly maimed warrior and all the clans of nature gods." Yagi's thin mouth curls wryly. "Would it not be wiser, if not easier, to persuade Irontown, with their similar interests in mind of preserving the mountain and their home -- to fight and learn to ultimately co-exist alongside you?"

"You think you could convince them?" Shouta scoffs.

"I know I can." Yagi smiles. "Thus, I implore you to entrust it all to me."

And it takes a whole wordless moment before Shouta's stiff posture clearly eases out, and he throws back his dark, handsome head with a genuine guffaw.

"Mother," He turns to Nana brightly, "You see? I think I believe him."

 _Even so,_ Nana says coolly, _those are all merely words. I will have you prove your resolve by actions. If you will represent us in these negotiations, it stands to reason that you also offer your active participation in the real battle._

"But of course," Yagi accedes, only as if he's mildly offended that she would expect anything else from him -- just as Shouta makes a loud, involuntary noise of horror.

All the wolves swing their muzzles towards him, and Shouta, rather scarlet, is suddenly left to bear the intensity of their attention.

 _You protest?_ Nana asks her son.

Frustrated, Shouta seems to be struggling with his words, a very rare occurrence.

"Yagi is injured," he makes out at last, ducking his head deferentially. "He should not be allowed to fight. He can contribute in other ways."

"Shouta," Yagi speaks up steadily, "I appreciate your concern, but I would be glad to fight for this mountain."

"It isn't your place to bleed for us, you ridiculous man!"

"Perhaps so, but if the Wolf Goddess should permit -- "

"Why do you even care?! This mountain isn't even yours!"

"Yes, but it is _yours!_ "

Glaring at one another fiercely.

They've forgotten that they have an audience.

 _I have one last query._ Nana announces, regal voice cutting through the tension.

"I will answer to the best of my ability," Yagi gruffly promises, dragging his narrowed eyes off Shouta.

Nana nods. _Now. What is the nature of the relationship between you and my child?_

Shouta's sure he's the only one embarrassed by the question, but -- there, colour's sprung unusually into Yagi's paunched, pallid cheeks. Shouta's never seen him look quite so caught off guard, and then an expression passes his face like some serious consideration, and he says, "Ah."

And tells her plainly.

\---

The meeting's adjourned and the crowd's all abuzz, as Shouta furiously drags Yagi away from the clearing. Many intrigued and huffing snouts turn after them in interest.

"I apologize," Yagi whispers uneasily, "Was it insensitive of me, using your language to answer?"

"What? _No_." The frustration's taken over by bemusement, like Shouta had never even considered it. "No, it was very sweet, but -- _no,_ you -- _urgh!_ "

At a loss for appropriate words, he stands on his toes and pinches Yagi's fleshless cheek viciously.

"Ouch!"

"Did you know _half_ the things you were spewing out in front of Mother?!"

"Yes?" Yagi frowns, a hand to where it stings. "Was I not supposed to tell the truth? I even practiced for it."

Shouta's in disbelief. "But _why_ would you -- so, _so_ you _meant_ every word?"

"Well," Yagi's vaguely abashed to confess, "I'm sure my pronunciation could have been better, but yes. I meant every word."

He blinks down, where hands have curled into his tunic and their pretty owner's shaking with his eyes dangerously lowered.

"Get out."

"Shouta, if I need to apologize for any discourtesies -- "

"You didn't do anything wrong, you fool," Shouta snorts, though he's still curiously pink. He motions; an alert, familiar pair of wolves quickly peel away from the crowd, padding towards them. "Nemuri, Hizashi, will you please?"

\---

_I will speak with my son alone._

At once, the wolves all bow their great heads and move off, Shouta's entrusted pair of them also roughly herding Yagi along.

At Yagi's alarmed glance, Shouta gives only a brisk nod; but that's enough to assure Yagi, it seems, the man's expression drawing calm and relaxed, tension falling from his stance even as he turns to make bold conversation with his bewildered escort; they would undoubtedly soon be won over by his charming, genteel-like manner, Shouta's certain.

He's gazing after them long after they've disappeared into the trees.

_I can see why you keep the human around._

"Mama," Shouta laments, throwing his arms around her enormous, ruffled neck. " _Please_."

 _His accent is atrocious._ Nana says, loftily. _I barely understood anything beyond 'I would do anything for Shouta, the most honourable, marvellous creature I've ever had the pleasure of encountering; I do humbly beg your pardon, praising him while in your presence, great wolf goddess; but, oh, you have raised the most exquisite prince in your care, I cannot help extolling his innumerable qualities' --_

"Mother!" Shouta interrupts, flustered and making a great show of severe indignance, though Nana can't help but think he seems very faintly pleased. "You must ignore his human babbling, he is an idiot."

 _A smitten idiot._ Nana rumbles, thoroughly amused. _And a respected warrior prince with much experience of the world. At least his taste in human men is commendable._

Shouta sputters, red up to his ears.

 _And if you are to have a human as your paramour,_ Nana adds, somewhat mischievously, _I'd prefer one so enamoured with you he'd lay down his very life in your name._

" _That_ doesn't mean anything to him," Shouta grumbles, still pinkly sullen as he threads his fingers through her glossy fur. "His life, I mean. He was ready to die from the moment I met him. I'd rather someone who wants to live. He's ... " Shouta scratches his nose, averts his gaze. "He's no good to me dead."

_So you **would** take offense if I called your brethren to tear him to shreds._

Shouta's startled, panicked look is enough to send Nana into howls of laughter.

"Don't do that," Shouta bemoans, unable to help his whine rising to a pitch he hasn't used since he was a pup.

 _Gods,_ Nana chuckles, _to this day, you're still my most adorable whelp. Don't tell your brothers and sisters I said that._

Sulking, he hides his scowl in her neck.

_Well, Shouta. But how do you like a creature so dedicated to you?_

"I do like bending him to my will," Shouta admits, perking up predictably, even smiling a little. "But it is far too much in his nature to make good fun of it."

_You mean that your human is frail of mind, easily influenced?_

"No! I meant that, the human -- Yagi -- he's generous of nature. He obliges gracefully, yields with no contempt to those who know better, and he's no selfish beast, caught up in the vanity of his past human achievements -- I can only order him about because he respects me. You should have seen how courteous he was in the sacred waters; and he held his dignity admirably even when he was in great pain and ill with fever, he was never rude or malicious; even when the wolves regarded him with wilful scorn and threats, he responded graciously -- he even treated Katsuki to his meats and gentle words when just minutes before, the impertinent pup was snapping at his heels. Katsuki respects him now, do you know? Katsuki!"

It's not until Shouta flings up his hands in hearty, good-natured exasperation, that he realizes how intently his mother is watching him, and how suddenly winded he is from the passion of his monologue.

_You seem quite taken with him._

"No!" Shouta says vehemently. "Well -- fine, maybe, _yes_. No! Oh, Mother, I don't _know_."

 _My sweet, blushing prince,_ Nana cackles, _I've never seen you in such a state!_ _Then I suppose,_ she concedes, a little more seriously this time, _that by your personal, wholly unbiased review -- this ungainly specimen Yagi could be the sole exception of his detestable kind._

"He learnt the language of the wolves just for us," Shouta murmurs, muffled by her thick fur. "What am I to make of that?"

 _Firstly, that he did it for you, not **us.**_ Nana pauses. _Do you like him, then? A human?_

"Perhaps. Just the one." Shouta peeks at her shyly, a little anxiously. "Do _you_ like him, Mother?"

_He is tolerable enough._

"That is glowing praise from you." Reassured, Shouta grins cheekily. "So you like humans now?"

_Heavens, no. They're all bastards. But this one seems willing enough to prove himself useful. But I am not sure if I should let him._

"I will accompany him to the negotiations," Shouta nods. "I will not let him misrepresent us."

_Ah, my dear, but that is not what worries me._

"What then, Mother?"

_He is not like us. He is not like you, even; not born and reared among us, with no duty due of him. His loyalties will always be to his own kind._

Shouta's quiet. "I don't believe that, Mother." he says at last. "I believe that Yagi is a good, kind, honest man. His loyalties are to whomever he declares. He has told us he would help and I believe he will stay true."

 _And yet,_ Nana nuzzles her son gravely, _that is the second of my worries. It will not do you good, dear child, to love a man so prone to sacrificing himself for others. You will love him,_ she growls like a grim promise, _and then you will lose him. You cannot keep a man who belongs to the world._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hewwo i'm trying traditional chinese medicine (acupunture AJDJSJ) tomorrow for my injured hands im so scared of needles omg,, hELPP
> 
> New chap every Thurs 😭  
> twitter: @saltypeppy


	3. let me help you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nsfw scene incoming adjsjs
> 
> also sorry this chap was late :(

The wolves decide to let him live, and help.

Yagi supposes they should rejoice, as what they want from him was what he'd most desired to give, anyway; but Shouta strides away from his mother in an unexplained temper, leading Yagi straight from the gathering place without a word, not back to the sacred pools, but to a dry little cave on the lower terrains. Already settled neatly inside, are Yagi's bags and a thick carpet of pelts laid out.

"You'll stay here for the time being." Shouta says shortly, savagely shucking the furs he drapes himself with.

It's close to the evening.

There's a soft green meadow ahead of the cave, and a clear stream of water running not far by.

"It's lovely," acknowledges Yagi politely. "Do I have Nana's permission to hunt on her grounds, or -- "

"No. There'll be none of that."

Standing in the cave bare-chested, already stripped down to his fundoshi, Shouta shoots him the most scathing look.

"I'm staying with you, I'll take care of you."

"I'm grateful, but you needn't trouble yourself with me -- "

"Look, _you_ needn't worry; I brought food and drink for tonight, and I'll be the one hunting for the both of us henceforth."

"Oh." Yagi frowns. "Well, as I'm no longer infirmed, I'd like not to impose -- "

" _No._ You may be walking, but I shan't let you exert yourself as soon as you've recovered."

"But surely," Yagi insists, "surely I have to make myself _useful_ \-- "

"Well, you're _not!_ "

That shuts Yagi right up.

And for a long while, he says nothing. Then, a taut smile that doesn't reach his eyes presses forth on those thin lips.

"Yes." he finally says. "Of course you're right, Shouta."

"Alright." Shouta grinds out. Why doesn't it feel at all like he's won this quarrel? "It's -- it's _infuriating_ to deal with you, you know that?"

"I know."

Somehow, the quiet way Yagi's just standing there pliantly, smiling faintly, just _taking_ it --

"Are you mocking me?" Shouta hisses.

The smile vanishes.

"You _are_ , aren't you?" Rage swells up in Shouta, hot and horrid. "Why do you _act_ like this, Yagi? All arrogant and pompous, like you could carry the world on those skinny shoulders and not break a sweat? Why did you suffer that mortal wound to save me? And you told me how you got that awful scar, too -- that was from facing down an enemy you knew you could barely win against -- and you did it all alone, because you didn't want anyone else hurt. You did all that alone -- and you won't even let me lift a finger to care for you!"

"I don't wish to burden you." Yagi's voice comes terribly soft. "You shouldn't have to force yourself to help me."

"But I want to!" Shouta shouts. "You're _my_ burden, and I'm _happy_ for it! _Why won't you let me help you?!_ "

Yagi's grown very pale.

_It's happening again._

_Like Mirai, like Gran Torino, like Izuku._

_They wanted to help so much that they drove me out, drove me away, forced me to find a cure when all I wanted to do was to lay among them and die; and I left because I could never disappoint them, and I know they cared, they loved me, they offered to come with me, but I wouldn't let them, they couldn't leave the safety of the village for a wandering, dying exile like me; but I was so lonely, so fucking lonely --_

_Why won't you let us help you?!_

"Is it arrogance?" Shouta's raving on. "Is it -- is it your stupid human pride, that you think yourself invulnerable and almighty? You think that, that you can just get up, walk away from anything unscathed simply because you're brave and strong and self-possessed and wonderfully, ridiculously _beautiful_ \-- "

Just as soon as those wild, heated words slip out, Shouta freezes, flushing deeply with mortification.

He certainly hadn't meant to say that aloud.

He chances a wary glance at Yagi, but instead of the teasing smugness or coy smirk he expects ... there's nothing but an oddly blank look.

After a while of gazing fruitlessly at one another, Shouta's as irked as he is disturbed. "What?"

"You said I was beautiful." Yagi says, dully.

Again, Shouta blushes hard.

But there's no way around it than to be out with the truth now, is there?

"You _are_ beautiful," Shouta mutters testily. "But don't let it get to your big golden head," he adds.

Peering at Yagi, half-anticipating that humourous chuckle to come, any time now.

But Yagi's blue eyes are still flat. That same blank, unmoved expression.

At last, the man huffs low, softly under his breath, and then finally looks away. "Ah. Well. I'd appreciate it if you didn't make jokes in such bad taste."

Now that just _pisses_ Shouta off.

"Who said it was a fucking joke?"

Yagi's still not looking at him. It's starting to feel like a damn insult. "Isn't it?"

"It isn't. You big oaf."

Yagi sighs. Annoyed.

And Shouta's _incensed_. It's rage, it must be, that makes him grab Yagi's sallow face and bring it perilously close to his own.

"I've lived in this great forest my whole life," he snarls into Yagi's slightly open mouth, "I've run with the mighty wolves, I've seen the great mountains and the blessed birds of paradise. I've lain eyes on God of the Forest itself. I _know_ what beautiful is."

The iron-scented breath on Shouta's lips hitches. Those blue eyes, dimmed, flick down low; Shouta has an idea of where they're looking.

There's the sound of a throat working, swallowing.

"I want to kiss you." the man confesses.

Shouta studies him.

Beneath the glaze, there's heat in those blue eyes, anger simmering, but something more. Something hungry, something begging.

Desperate, in their sincerity.

Who's Shouta to dishonour such a sweet surrender?

He kisses Yagi, chaste at first, and then Yagi's long arms are coming around him, squeezing, lifting Shouta off his feet.

It seems a natural succession, then; Shouta wrapping his legs around that narrow waist, as large hands clasp the backs of his bared thighs under his pelt, hauling their hips close.

With a shake of his dark head and some reluctance, Shouta abruptly pulls back, fingers digging into gaunt shoulders.

Golden hair mussed, thin lips kiss-swollen, blue eyes half-lidded and fairly dazed, Yagi is gazing up at Shouta in absolute awe.

Wonder.

Shouta feels a rush of pride. The most dazzling creature in all the land, and he's caught him and made him entirely his.

Held up easily in Yagi's deceptively strong arms, Shouta finds himself at absolute leisure to bend to his ear, and breathe:

"Fuck me."

Yagi startles, and as if suddenly reminded of Shouta's weight, buckles like a newly-born foal and crashes to the ground.

"What's the matter with you?" Shouta demands haughtily, even as he adjusts himself in Yagi's lap like he's lounging on any old throne. "I thought you were dying to put it in me."

Yagi's brow furrows at that, and then he hacks violently like he's about to throw up his new lungs, bouncing a rather placid Shouta in his lap.

"No?" Shouta says quizzically, after the coughing fit subsides, and his arms are still lazily draped around Yagi's neck. "Were you not courting me? Did I misunderstand all your charming words and slippery glances?"

Yagi's sky-blue eyes widen. And then he leans his flaxen head back against the arid cave wall and groans, wiping at his blood-speckled mouth.

"Shouta ... I adore you."

"Then fuck me!"

"But darling -- "

"I want _you_ to show me how it's done."

"Ah?" The creases between Yagi's eyes ease out as understanding dawns. " _Oh_. Oh, I _see._ You mean, you've never -- "

"Who would I have done it with?" Shouta snaps, flinging his pelt into Yagi's suddenly bright face. "I hated -- I still hate -- "

"Humans?"

"Yes. _Humans_."

Sliding his arms around Shouta, Yagi eases back so that he's flat on the cave floor, Shouta lain down on top of him. "All of them?"

Shouta only fusses a little, then settles in with his weight warm and heavy against Yagi's naked chest.

"No," Yagi can barely make out, muffled by lips on skin. "You're ... I _suppose_ you're fine."

"Thank you." Yagi says, sincerely. "I'm really quite flattered."

"Don't go around spreading it. I'll -- I'll kill you if you do."

"That's not exactly a threat to me."

Shouta bites him. Yagi yelps, just as he cackles, jostling Shouta with rough, throaty laughter.

"Idiot." Shouta huffs, but he's sat up now, straddling Yagi and smiling down over him. "Just show me how the humans do it."

"Well, if it makes things easier, we do things just the same as wolves. Or dogs, really."

"Dogs?"

"Yes! See, well, there's a certain titular _style_ \-- "

"I know how dogs fuck," Shouta growls, rolling off Yagi, ripping off the cloth over his crotch.

His upper body sinks to the ground, and his hips, his bare bottom lifts up.

Yagi's mouth goes dry.

"Well?" Shouta demands, cheek pressed flat against the rumpled pelts, the rest of his flushed face upturned and adorable. "Are you going to fuck me or what?"

And ... nothing.

"Wait," comes a laugh from behind Shouta, "No, wait, wait."

Yagi didn't immediately put his hands on him, and suddenly experiencing the absolute crushing horror of rejection, Shouta's already scrambling back up onto his knees, feeling the full heat and scandalized offense of his utter humiliation. "You bastard, if you don't want me, you should have just _said so_ \-- "

"Oh, darling!" And long arms sweep him into a passionate embrace. "Are you -- are these tears?"

"No!"

"Shouta, I was only trying to get out of my shirt, you know ... "

Very suddenly, Shouta's blinking up at him through dark, tear-glistening lashes and Yagi has to stiffen, red-faced, and remember how to breathe.

"So you _do_ want to fuck me?" Shouta asks hesitantly, incredibly endearingly.

Good gods, does this wolf-man know exactly what he's doing?

 _A master of seduction,_ Yagi surrenders happily, leaning down and kissing him very tenderly. "Darling, we can certainly, er, do it like dogs ... _dog-style_ if you'd like, but I'd love to show you more than a rough and dirty fuck if you'd oblige me. Yes?"

"Yes. Sure, fine." Shouta mumbles, already crawling back into Yagi's lap, sourly wrapping his legs around him like he'd done before. "Whatever."

"Will you sit up, lean forward a little for me, please?"

Shouta frowns. "Fine, but why -- "

He chokes, as a long, slicked finger slips up his puckered hole.

"You," he gasps, twitching inadvertently into the invasion, "dirty human!"

The finger prods deeper, then eases out -- and another one sneaks in with a tight squelch, wriggling warmly.

"Just fuck me already," Shouta hisses, half-riding Yagi's crooking fingers, "kiss me, you human wretch, fuck me, _fuck_ \-- "

He's helplessly torn off into a whine when Yagi mouths at his throat and squeezes in three fingers now, slowly thrusting.

"I've been meaning to ask," Yagi murmurs, kissing down the creamy arch of Shouta's neck, "however _did_ you build yourself such a nasty vocabulary? These don't seem to be the sort of words the great Wolf Mother would teach you."

"I pi-picked it up from the humans during our scouting rounds," Panting, nipping at Yagi's earlobe. "They -- swore especially loudly wh-whenever we disturbed their supply routes ... " A rough kitten-lick up Yagi's cheek. "How -- did _you_ learn our language?"

"Just like you," Yagi abruptly plants a kiss on Shouta's nose, and beams at his reddening face, as he drags his sticky fingers out, "I have a _very_ talented tongue. You should allow me to demonstrate for you some time."

"Next time? You'd better make it a good show," Shouta snipes, plucking at Yagi's trousers with almost savage impatience, and then peevishly giving up, simply shoving his whole hand roughly down Yagi's pants. "A better show than the one _you_ pulled in front of all my tribe. How could -- " His fingers have closed around something hot and impossibly huge. " ... you?"

He pulls Yagi out and stares. Swallows. "You're so ..." Licking his dry lips. "So ..."

A tentative squeeze.

Yagi gasps.

Shouta looks up at him as if startled himself, and then back down at the impressive length of cock growing hard and heavy in his pale hand.

Shouta grins -- and strokes, and snickers, as Yagi shudders violently and digs his fingers into Shouta's hips. "You're so fucking _embarrassing_."

"Didn't you want to fuck me?" retorts Yagi thinly, even as he jerks involuntarily again into the tight, blissful drag of Shouta's calloused hand. From root to tip.

Thumbing the fat, lippy head, the beading slit, Shouta's ingratiated by another low moan of Yagi's, and at first startled when Yagi abruptly grabs at Shouta as if in a fit, crushing him fiercely close to him.

"I adore you," Yagi breathes again into his ear, this time huskily and with great tenderness.

Working his bare arms out from between them, Shouta wraps them around Yagi's neck, and buries his face in his neck warmly.

"And you are very dear to me." he quietly returns. "So please have a care for yourself, also."

For a while, Yagi doesn't say anything and Shouta wonders if he's fallen asleep. "I suppose ... that entails letting you help me?"

He sounds very uncertain.

"Yes." Shouta says, without hesitation. "Because I care about you, and I want to."

"Alright." Yagi huffs, still hugging Shouta tight. "Besides the hunting and the patrolling and whatnot -- what else would you like to help me with?"

"Should we start with that beast between your legs?" Shouta whispers, in coy hopes of getting at the very least some delightful blush or stammer out of Yagi.

No such thing.

Yagi only kisses him lightly, and draws back to behold him with immense, absolute affection.

"If you'd be so kind as to put that sweet, delicious little arse up in the air again -- I think I could possibly fuck myself all better."

" _Ooooh_."

"Are you alright?" Yagi's fingers flutter nervously on Shouta's hips, preemptively soothing. "Does it hurt, my love?"

"I -- "

Shouta lets out a wholly anguished moan.

"You're hurt! Why didn't you say, I'll pull out -- "

"Don't you fucking dare!" comes the distraught howl. "Just _move!"_

And so Yagi does, recovering swiftly and thrusting in with one long, wet stroke. Flesh slaps, arse meeting hips, and Yagi draws back out, cock dragging thickly, and Shouta's wailing, " _Yes, yes --_ "

"Darling," Yagi laughs, though it's mottled with breathlessness, "are you already so worked up?"

"I'll kill you," Shouta whimpers.

Yagi leans in, rail-thin chest pressing down over muscled back, slowly, carefully brushing aside dark, wavy locks, kissing the side, the back of that warm, flushed neck.

"You say that so much, you poor thing. I don't think it ever has quite the effect on me that you want."

They're rutting like dogs in heat; Shouta rambling something breathily as Yagi groans to the last, burying himself ever deeper into that sweet, hot hole with every thrust. Shouta seems to sob every time he does, wet flesh slapping, and Yagi's quickly learning to crave every desperate, messy sound, reaching down under that wonderful warm body to grasp and pull and stroke, and Shouta gives a strangled shout as he comes, spilling helplessly over Yagi's bony fingers, clenching around the girthy thickness crammed deep inside him.

He's sensitive, his hole is so sensitive now; but Yagi's not letting up, pounding him as he mewls and moans, barely able to do a thing as Yagi holds him up and fucks into him for his pleasure, and at last Yagi shudders, and strains up into him with loud satisfaction.

Creamy heat fills Shouta's arse, leaking out around the rim even with Yagi's cock still stuffing him.

It's still dripping, all viscous and wet, when Yagi pulls out sloppily, and Shouta stays slumped over in his position, moaning softly.

"Darling," Yagi says, sounding uncharacteristically nervous, "are you alright? Shall I fetch you some water?"

"I told you," Shouta mumbles sleepily, into the musky pelts, " _I'll_ take care of you."

There's a great sigh of resignation, and Shouta spares the culprit a glance, the man all flushed with sex-mussed flaxen hair and kiss-swollen lips, lanky limbs sprawled out over their bedding. That magnificent cock spent, limp and heavy against his thigh.

It's pure curiosity and no other hidden motives that has Shouta lazily reaching behind himself, fingers absentmindedly playing with the pale slick of his sore, throbbing hole.

Fucked-out and lethargic as Yagi appears to be, he's evidently watching Shouta's workings with great interest.

"What?" Shouta jeers, peering at him from over a naked, tensing shoulder as his arm keeps busy. "I took good care of you, didn't I?"

"Yes. Surely. You've utterly ruined me." Absolute sincerity. "Also, love, if you keep doing that, I'm going to get hard again."

"Then get hard."

Blithely, Shouta turns his eyes back to the front, gleefully focused on making a show of rocking back deliciously slow into the press of his fingers.

"And I'll take care of that for you too."

Where Yagi can't see, he smiles rather wickedly, and adds another small, feeble moan for Yagi's benefit; behind him, his audience's breath catches audibly, appreciatively.

"You know," Shouta reminds him sweetly, "that I'll always be happy to help you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE tell me u got that sex pun i made


	4. make love, not war

Lady Rei Todoroki of Irontown is a fine woman suited as well to worn leather as courtly silks. Snow-pale hair wrapped in an elegant crown atop her head, her flinty grey gaze sweeps over Yagi and Shouta.

"Prince Yagi." Cold as stone. So, she's choosing to address him. "While I understand you may have lost several bodily parts in the great battles of before, I did believe you had yet your mind to keep. Was I perhaps mistaken? I cannot otherwise fathom how you'd imagine yourself welcome again in Irontown after that romantic stunt you pulled."

Shouta bristles at Yagi's side.

Resisting the urge to take ahold of his hand -- _you fool, that would only prove her right_ \-- Yagi instead focuses his attention on Rei and smiles. No, he does not miss the young markswoman taking aim from the left guard tower out of the corner of his eye.

"We're only here to talk."

"Oh, I suspected as much, what with you and your little mate arriving unarmed and uninvited to my door. Will he and his beastly kind surrender?"

"Ah, no."

"Then we have nothing to discuss."

"I think we do." Yagi says, in a voice of sudden steel. "Your feud is also with the Emperor, is it not? As the infamous runaway of his harem, one of his most favoured concubines of court, you are certainly not safe from him."

Rei Todoroki's slender fingers drum a rhythm on the wooden shaft of her rifle. "If you mean to humiliate me with that knowledge, you should know that it won't work. The whole town knows my history. And I earned their respect, nonetheless."

"As you have earned mine," Yagi says, honestly. "And so, I remind you that there is nothing to be gained in persisting in this war with your neighbours. You cannot fight this battle on both fronts, not with the Emperor's Imperial forces threatening to ravage the mountain and take over your town and its ironworks. And do you think they will let you live after your treason? Much less after discovering your son, the true heir apparent to the Imperial seat?"

If Yagi wasn't paying close attention, he mightn't have seen the woman flinch.

But she gathers herself impressively fast, her composure implacable once more. "I have no children."

"Lady Rei," Yagi sighs, "the youth named Shoto was the very first to be ushered impressively quickly into your private estate when the alarms sounded, and until then, was noticeably the only youth you kept close by your noble person at most times. What's more, I especially don't recall seeing him among your talented young warriors when they came to aid against Prince Shouta's assassination attempt. The boy is obviously something of an exception to you."

The Lady Rei's stare is as frosty and damning as ice. "All of Irontown's children are precious to me."

"Yes, of course," Yagi agrees, impatience bubbling. "And half his hair being snow-white like yours and starkly crimson like his father's is pure biological coincidence. Noble lady, your son's understandable guise aside, does my proposal not sound reasonable to you?"

"Hm." Lady Rei shifts, expression unchanging. "So you propose a truce between Irontown and those monsters of the mountain?"

Yagi presses his palm to the small of Shouta's back, already knowing well how he'll tense.

"Respect, Lady Rei," Yagi says cheerily, "please, when you address your future allies. No, good lady, before you protest, I'll simply state the non-negotiable. We _won't_ settle for the provisional truce that won't last beyond this war. We'd like a true alliance, and the assurance of peaceful times after. We'd like the promise of a better future for all."

The townspeople behind Rei burst into mutters and exclamations alike. Some even heckle, swearing aloud.

Lady Rei raises one pale, slender hand for silence, and even Yagi's genuinely impressed with how swiftly quiet falls.

"What are your terms?"

Shouta steps forward. "Irontown begins to live sustainably. You give up this excessive consumption of the mountain's natural resources. You cease to desecrate this land with your waste and pollution. We will no longer attack you, and you will lay down your arms against us. All this will be done for as long as your Irontown seeks to share a peaceful, undisturbed existence with us."

"You ... " Finally, a crack in Rei's stone-cold veneer. "You would still share your home with us? After -- everything we've done?"

Shouta nods. "Yes. The mountain gods are willing."

"But Irontown ... our people will still require resources close at hand ... "

"Yes, and Ya -- " Shouta's gaze flicks to Yagi. " _Prince_ Yagi, I mean; he foresaw this concern. He's already negotiated a compromise with all the tribes of the mountain's gods. In return for your cooperation, consideration, and your protection of the mountain from other would-be human plunderers henceforth -- they are willing to allow you onto their domain to gather what you need for every season, without excess."

Lady Rei lowers her grey eyes. She seems to be at odds with her own thoughts. Her people shuffle behind her uneasily, perhaps, no, definitely sensing her shift in tensions.

"If I may, Lady Rei?"

She looks up at Yagi. Nods without a hint of the menace and caution she'd pointed at him before.

Maybe it's newfound respect. Well, Yagi's not going to let it go to waste.

"I would like to express my own personal opinion," he states quietly, "that these terms are extraordinarily generous in your favour. These mountain gods have been here long before the foundations of Irontown were laid. Can you blame them for wishing to protect their home?" His voice gentles. It's not pity, he's careful of that. Empathy. "You of all people must know how it feels to have an enemy pillaging your grounds, threatening to take your loved ones from you."

Rei's lovely eyes have hazed over.

Yagi wonders what she's seeing. He's heard the stories, of course, of how her village was ransacked, how the Emperor took her captive for his court.

"Look towards the future," Yagi says strongly, now to everyone.

The good, brave folk of Irontown watches him as he spreads out his arms, wide to include them all.

"I ask all of you. Think of your children, and think of how much better it'd be to spoil them with times of peace and happiness. How sweet it would be for them not to live in fear of the world beyond these walls. How dear it would be for them to live their lives long and unspoiled by old feuds, old conflict. Doesn't an age of peace sound wonderful?"

Silence.

It could be discouraging, but Yagi won't let it be.

"Well," he says evenly, touching Shouta's arm. "We have said all we have come to say. I only ask that you consider your answer, esteemed Lady Rei. We will expect your response no later than five turns of the moon."

\---

_And?_

"We have their cooperation. And after we've repelled the enemy's invading forces, there will be peace on the terms that you and your fellows agreed to."

' _We', you say._

"Yes. As I have avowed, I am with you and Irontown to the end."

 _Mm. How noble of you._ Nana opens a huge eye, dark with attention. _It is the truth that not all the mountain gods truly agree with these terms. Vengeance will remain long on their minds, even if we live through this. Peace will never be so easy as a promise._

"I understand." And Yagi does. "But the humans have their young, as do the boars, as do the apes, as do you. And I assure you, that after having fought so many wars ... I know that the hard-won peace is worth it."

 _I am centuries old._ The imposing bulk of Nana heaves, her gravitas immense even as she only raises her ash-grey muzzle to appraise him. _And yet I do not think I have seen so much conflict as you have in your brief, bloodied lifespan. They have taken their pound of flesh from you, have they not, human child?_

Yagi's smile is brittle and bitter. "They've taken something out of me, certainly."

 _Find peace after this._ Nana tells him, and closes her eyes. She sounds almost motherly. _Let this battle be your last._


	5. you're enough

Shouta's waiting for him by the cave he's come to think of as theirs. The most intense look of rumination is on Shouta's taut face as he watches Yagi make his way down half the gritty slope, and skid down the rest.

By the time he strides briskly up to Shouta at the mouth of the cave, and spreads his hands a little in some ready display of submission, Yagi’s been made excruciatingly aware of the tension.

"What's wrong?"

Shouta's still considering him with sharp, narrowed eyes.

"I promise you," Yagi blurts, "I wasn't up to anything. Indeed, your mother and I had a lovely chat -- and er, I was meaning to draw out some formation plans for the noon, if you'd care to join me, and then perhaps scouting the area to see what terrain we have to work with; while I do have some ideas for taking advantage of our environment, I imagine it'd be formidable if we could set up a cooperative perimeter on the high-ground with Lady Rei's archers and the ape gods if they'll accede to Nana's will -- _please_ , Shouta, why are you _looking_ at me like that?"

"Shut up," Shouta growls at long last, looking for all the world fiercely frustrated.

He twists his hands in Yagi's collar, yanks him down to the level of his dark, heated scrutiny. Now that they’re this close, Yagi can see that his intensity wasn’t coming from anger.

"You stupid, brilliant old human man, _shut up._ Do you realize what you've done? You've just brokered a peace treaty between mountain and men, and secured us a future after this war. Finally, we all have something _more_ to fight for."

He drags Yagi in, kissing him deeply. Then he shoves him back.

"Thank you."

"I ... " Yagi blinks, still reeling from the kiss. "Y-yes. Of course." He seems to regain his bearings, and grins down stupidly at Shouta. "It's an honour to help."

It's the most sickeningly sweet smile Shouta's ever seen.

He wants to eat this old man right up.

Pink in his cheeks, Shouta rolls his eyes. "Now what's that you said about setting up a perimeter?"

\---

They set up the perimeter, they build forts and barricades across every possible road the Imperial army could march in on them on. From a vantage point, Yagi prods out the blind spots in their scouting routes and assigns defensible positions.

Shouta insists on being at his side, always, when Yagi makes his rounds to Irontown; Shouta's hackles up and glaring around at the townspeople like he's certain Lady Rei will betray them on a turn and cut Yagi down.

While some of Rei's strategists are more frail-hearted and wince away or turn awkward and muttering in the face of Shouta's deadly glower, the children of Irontown seem to have no such qualms.

Not minding the warnings of the adults and all, they cluster around Shouta and Yagi whenever they visit, so much so that they've learnt to expect an eager gaggle of young ones rushing them as soon as the massive wooden gates of Irontown rise.

Yagi's always liked children, but he quickly finds another reason to appreciate their contagious giggling, their earnest, innocent questions, their amusing impatience as they try to pull him in five different directions at once -- no, yes, yes, they might have his hands and his indulging attentions as they beg him to show off his great sword and unusual arrow-heads -- but his gaze always strays, and stays on Shouta.

Marvelling at how his hard, flinty features soften when he's surrounded by loud, chattering children, beguiled by how gently he treats them.

 _He's a wonder with children,_ Yagi thinks, half-besotted already, as he watches Shouta crouch down to their level, meeting their eyes with solemn, attentive care.

And then afterwards, after their regular hours of tactical discussions with Lady Rei and her council, when they head back up the mountain together, hands always just grazing, but never quite touching, Yagi watches as Shouta wades through a rambunctious crowd of huge wolf-cubs, each one big enough to easily take Shouta off his feet, but he stays them quietly with firm words and soft smiles, and soon enough, they're all huddled around him, nipping and whining for his regard, and baying and barking passionately at him in words far too garbled for Yagi to translate, but Shouta seems to understand just fine.

_You're staring again, human._

"Oh, Goddess Nana," Yagi startles, and forces himself to tear away reluctant eyes from the impossibly charming sight of Shouta seriously entertaining giant puppies. "Er -- erm, why, yes, as I was saying; these are the latest plans for the new formation. We'll have your tribe's warriors split up and stationed here and here, while the boar and ape tribes will be -- "

 _Take care of my son._ Nana says abruptly. _Swear to me that._

Yagi's astonished. But he rallies, "Of course. I shall defend him with my life."

_You would die for him?_

Yagi supposes it should surprise him how easily the answer comes. "Yes." But no, he's not really surprised. "I would die for Shouta."

Unexpectedly, Nana snorts.

_Romantic. But that is not what I asked._

He's perplexed, and it must show, because Nana sighs long-sufferingly and deigns to explain, _I asked if you would take care of him. All throughout this war, and long after, too._

Oh.

It's not right how _this_ one is what Yagi hesitates to answer.

 _I would ask you to swear on your life,_ Nana is going on, with an amused huff, _But we both know how little you value it._

"Ah ... did Shouta tell you that?"

_Yes. But he did not have to. I can see it in your eyes._

"I don't know how long I'll live."

It spills out of him. Humiliating.

"With the curse in my arm, the desolate state of my body -- that I can't seem to stay out of the battlefield -- one day I might simply drop dead."

His blue gaze, pale and dimming, fall to his own hands in shame. Remembering tangibly the steaming warmth of his own guts, the nightmarish wet, the smell.

And then he catches just ahead, the now oh-so-distant dream-like scene of Shouta laughing heartily, relaxed and happy with the puppies, teasing, kissing their big paws.

"I don't know if I can promise him my future."

Those two visions could never align.

 _Nay._ Nana speaks up at his side. _But you have promised him his._

"I -- "

_A future of happiness and peace. Does that future not surely include you?_

"I ... " Yagi swallows thickly, and whispers, "I'd be honoured to be in it."

 _Then you must try to see it. Reach for it. For those like us, who have suffered so much of life's trials, there can be no shame in seeking a softer end. But that path is for those who have nothing, and do not want anymore. You do not have nothing. You want more. You have Shouta, this mountain, the Irontown, your villagers and friends._ She bumps her huge, warm nose into his good side. _You have us._

Yagi feels like he's about to cry. It takes a rather straining silence before he can properly speak again.

"I will try." It's barely a croak, faint and slightly strangled. "I promise that I will try to live, try to be happy." Fists clenching at his sides. "Try to make him happy."

 _Good._ Nana smiles, and nods up ahead.

Shouta waves, beaming.

_Then I will be at peace, knowing his heart is in your capable hands._

\---

" -- and the scouts have seen the Imperial Army on the march. They'll be taking the southern mountain route precisely as predicted, which will leave us -- another two weeks to secure new munitions for the battlement gunners. All as predicted. The execution must be flawless, I -- _we_ will show them that this mountain is not to be trifled with, never again; we will have long-lasting peace and happy families, Imperial forces be _damned_ \-- "

"Yes, yes, fuck them all," Shouta yawns, stretching out lazily over their bed of shared pelts. "Come to lie, Yagi, it's late."

"I apologize, darling, but these procurement lists won't draft themselves -- "

" _Yagi,_ " Shouta gasps suddenly, so urgently that Yagi instinctively twists around to fight -- to stare.

Shouta's stark naked facing him, lean, creamy legs languidly sprawled wide and open. One hand palming at his flushed, heavy cock, the other teasing at a pert, pink nipple.

Playing.

His dark eyes half-lidded and sultry, meeting Yagi's in hazy challenge.

Oh, he's definitely playing.

"Alright," Yagi says lowly, voice remarkably even for the circumstances. He sets down his calligraphy brush, raising a large hand to loosen at his collar. "I can see when my prince needs attending to."

\---

It works. It fucking works. Everything turns out just fine. The day is saved and the enemy's repelled, all the Emperor's forces forced back by the Forest God's hand when it lifted its great fist.

Yagi would like to think it was at least a little due to the battle plans he'd painstakingly drawn out, and it probably was, a little; but quite alot of the success seemed to have been fatefully derived from the Forest God being unceremoniously decapitated by a warrior of Emperor Todoroki's, the entire land nearly consumed by a wave of death, and Yagi and Shouta's heroic returning of the head, which led to all now being right and green with the world.

But even after days of celebrations past, and a more than amicable exchange of thanks and renewal of peaceful vows between the mountain gods and Irontown, Shouta's mood only seems to grow darker.

Yagi notices, because of course he does. But what's to be done when Shouta seems to slip away every time Yagi tries to broach the subject?

It's only until they've returned from an exhausting day of negotiating fresh lumber supplies from the ape gods' woods to Irontown, that Shouta suddenly grabs at his sleeve with an irritation Yagi realizes he's dearly missed. He's tugged wordlessly to their cave, their spread of shared pelts, and drawn down.

They lie side-by-side facing one another, fingers entangled between them.

For the first time in a long while, Yagi feels brave enough to touch Shouta again. He lays a hand on Shouta's cheek, tentative at first, and then with his thumb stroking gently over the corner of that warm, dark eye, waits for him to speak.

Eventually, Shouta does, quietly.

"I suppose you're going to leave now."

Yagi's heart stops.

When Nana had assured him that Shouta wanted him in his future -- had she been mistaken? She must have been speaking kindly, taking pity on him; else why would Shouta ask something so obvious?

Suddenly afraid, Yagi takes his hand away from Shouta's face. Is he still allowed to touch? "I don't ... I don't know."

Shouta's expression is curiously blank. "Alright, then."

His apparent indifference isn't doing anything for Yagi's attack of nerves.

"Well, you can leave tomorrow morning if you like," Shouta goes on, as Yagi's stomach twists, "As far as I can tell, we shouldn't need to call on you for the mountain schoolhouse's construction."

No.

_You see! Clearly you're no longer wanted here, you've done your part, outlived your use -- but maybe, if I could do more for them -- now, don't be delusional, whatever else would they use you for?_

_Whatever would they need you for?_

"I was thinking," Yagi barely hears himself speak, "if I could -- if I could make myself useful here, I could help with, with anything, really. If I'm not in the way here, well, I'll certainly try not to be; because if I went back to my village, see -- " Laughing painfully awkward. "I'd be just as worthless there. And besides, I couldn't possibly, I'm in exile, but I've left them in very good hands, my successor's a far better ruler than I ever was; so, so, I'd only be a burden there."

He's rambling, he's stumbling over his own pathetic pleading, and it's humiliating; he's terrified of looking at Shouta and finding only pity and revulsion.

"Please -- " He's still running his fucking mouth. "If I could stay, if you can make some use of me at all, anything -- I'd be honoured to stay. I could stay. If -- if you'll have me."

Silence.

Yagi struggles to raise his eyes. Shouta's staring at him, his own wide and unfathomable.

Then, he opens his beautiful mouth.

"Fuck you."

It's like he's struck Yagi. The way Yagi's rendered shocked, certainly not by the vulgarity, but by the sheer vitriol of Shouta's tone.

Shouta sits up on the pelts, takes a strained moment to collect himself, and when that doesn't work -- "Fuck you!" It's almost spat out. "You're _ridiculous_. A big fucking fool!"

"I'm sorry," Yagi whispers, sitting up also, "Forgive me for presuming, of course, I don't belong here -- "

"You're _begging_ us to let you stay?" Shouta hisses at him. "Pleading for a place in our world? The world that _you_ saved?"

Yagi's dazed.

_He's seen right through me._

"I love you."

Yagi's golden head jerks. The fucking whiplash is surreal.

"I love you," Shouta's snarling bitterly at him, "and I just need _you_. I don't need you to be of use. I don't _want_ you to think that you're no good if you're not of use to anybody. Why do you _have_ to be useful?" Shouta stabs a finger into his chest, tears prickling at furious eyes, "Why do you _have_ to prove you're worthy of the life you're given?"

Yagi doesn't know what to say.

"You've worked hard," the words spill out of Shouta in a rage, "you've worked _so_ _hard_ your whole life, and -- " Rough hands wrest into Yagi's tunic, tugging. " -- and you've done more than _anybody,_ anywhere else, _ever_. And, and even if you never did, even if you never contributed a damn thing to this world, I just need you to know that -- "

Those fierce dark eyes. They love him.

"You're _enough_."

Pounding.

Yagi's heart is -- gods, why is his heart _racing_ under that frail, brittle ribcage like it still has a reason to go on?

Come to think of it, was there ever a time his heart was put to work this hard? Even the adrenaline of battles, the shock of the curse gripping his body never felt this jarring to his system.

There's an intimidating lump in his throat.

Yagi swallows past it. Catches up Shouta's angry hands in his own.

"I love you," he tells him, somewhat choked, "with all my heart."

Shouta blushes up to his ears.

His hands, so much smaller than Yagi's own, try to pull away, but it's obvious he isn't trying very hard.

"At least," Shouta mumbles, while his face burns, "live for yourself, will you? Because if you're going to stay here, at least tell me it's because _you_ want to ... and not simply because you think _we_ need you."

"So ... " Yagi says slowly, "you _don't_ need me?"

" _I_ don't." Shouta insists, haughtily. "Some of the villagers down in Irontown might, maybe the children ... maybe Nemuri, some of the pups, Katsuki certainly ... but not me."

"That's wonderful to hear." Yagi squeezes those beautiful scarred hands. Brings them to his curving lips. "But I didn't ask about _them_ , Shouta. Didn't you tell me to live for myself? I'm asking _you_. Do _you_ want me here?"

"Wha- I -- _me?_ "

Oh dear. The wolf-man's as red as a camellia.

"Shouta?"

"Y-yes."

"Oh? As in yes, you want me here or -- "

"Yes! Yes, I _want_ you here. I want you and all of your broken pieces, you maddening old man." He flings his arms around Yagi's neck, and buries his face in his collar. "So, don't you leave me. Ever."

"Thank you, Shouta."

The only smile Yagi can manage now is crooked, a little lopsided and imperfect just like the rest of him; but this time, it's true and it's never tasted sweeter.

"I don't ever want to leave you, either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i genuinely forgot i existed for a bit hrghnh *the literacy leaving my body*  
> anyway hope y'all liked this!! pls gimme comments my spirit will kiss u sweetly to sleep
> 
> \---  
> also my twitter is @saltypeppy  
> just,, if u wanna see me Not shut up about erasermight :D


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